Devoted to terrorism research, the political fringe, sports, parapolitics, and a little bit of griping.

April 30, 2010

Today sees the start of the 20/20 Cricket World Cup in the West Indies.

Few will be aware of the political and diplomatic factors that lie behind the venues matches will be played on over the next month. Indeed I would remain ignorant myself, but for a superb article by Jon Hotten "Why China Spent $100m on Cricket" in the April/May issue of Sky Sports magazine.

Whilst the West Indies is considered a country in cricketing terms, in political and geographic terms this is a bit of a nonsense. The 'West Indies' comprises 10 sovereign states - each with their own vote at the United Nations. In the scramble for political influence, China, Taiwan and even India have all spent significant sums of money assisting the redevelopment of island cricket grounds.

The roll call goes something like this:

Antigua - The Stanford stadium, developed by Sir Allan Stanford, currently in prison in the United States. Least said about this venue the better!

Antigua - The Sir Vivian Richards Stadium. Built by the Chinese. After the shame of the abandoned test against England in 2009, least said about this venue the better!

Barbados - Hosts the 20/20 final on 16 May. Ground redeveloped by the Bajan government.

Dominca - Windsor Park - developed with China.

Grenada - National cricket stadium built with China.

Guyana - The ground at Providence was built with Indian assistance.

Jamaica - Sabina Park has been redeveloped by the Jamaican government, but the island will not host matches in the World Cup. The Greenfields stadium was built with China.

St Kitts - Football and cricket stadiums partly developed with Taiwan.

St Lucia - Beausejour Stadium built in 2002 with cash from the islands lottery.

St Vincent - One for Taiwan here.

In 2007 it even became clear that China and Taiwan were outbidding one another in the drive to get Caribbean support. Where this leaves the 'independence' of these former British colonies, especially when it comes to matters concerning China's human rights record, its foreign policy or the future of Taiwan (or Chinese Taipei as we had to call it during the Bejing Olympics) is open to conjecture. I think we can assume that when the Chinese buy influence, they expect people to stay bought?

April 29, 2010

The Taqwacore movement emerges from the novel of the same name by Michael Muhammad Knight, about a bunch of American punks. Life appears to have imitated art, as a small number of Muslim punk bands have emerged in the years since Knight's novel. This film tells (part of) their story, showing bands such as The Kominas, Vote Hezbollah and the Secret Trial Five on tour in the States, and then some of these musicians attempting to play a gig in Pakistan, under the name Noble Drew.

Muhammad Knight is perhaps the core of the film, driving the green tour bus that takes the bands on a rather hedonistic tour of the States, complete with a succession of provocative images stenciled on their tour bus. Entry is by walking over the stars and stripes. Taqwa translates as god consciousness, core is taken from the word hardcore, and looking at Knight I am rather reminded of some of the rather austere straight edge kids I have seen at gigs in London in the past. Only Knight, as we see in the film, seems to do a hell of a lot more dope!

The climax of the American section of the film appears to have been inspired by Michael Moore or Sasha Baron Cohen at their stunt pulling best. The various bands somehow manage to insert themselves into the ISNA (Islamic Society of North America) Chicago convention, where a stage has been set aside for young people's entertainment. What they get is punk rock, to the fury of the organisers who call police, and the terror of some of the audience. A female ISNA representative complains bitterly that woman should not be allowed on stage, before the scene reaches a truly beautiful climax. A group of hijab wearing American Muslim girls are clearly enjoying the music, whilst two cops demand the bands leave the stage. Muhammad Knight accordingly goes into full provocateur mode, chanting "Pigs are haram in Islam", before the taqwacores are thrown out on their ears.

The second half of the film, as Knight and some of the musicians head to Pakistan, is perhaps less of a success. For those of us brought up on images of Pakistan that centered on either cricket or General Zia's Islamification, the sights of Sufi Islam, Lahore's red light district and gargantuan amounts of dope smoking is a welcome change. It is unlikely though that the Pakistan Tourist Board will be marketing the benefits of cannabis lassi (which certainly looked refreshing).

The reality however is that Pakistan is a deeply divided society - especially in terms of class - and playing punk rock in such a society presents a huge challenge. The Americans efforts to leaflet the masses promoting a free gig are comical, although they do provoke the objections of one angry man (who from his accent appears English) who is appalled at such a gig in a Muslim country. Well the gig happens, and the film pretty much ends there.

The evening itself was brought to a close with a round table discussion chaired by UK film maker Hammad Khan, who has met both Knight and The Kominas. Discussion amongst the five panelists was dominated by what the Taqwacores tells us about race and identity - here I was surprised at just how much 9/11 was mentioned. Was this film, plus The Infidel and Four Lions, evidence that attitudes towards Islam were changing, and that it could be seen as about more than the images of 9/11 or 7/7?

There are several problems with this route. Firstly, as a Greek member of the audience pointed out, part of the film was about asking hard questions about Islam, about denying the authority of Imam's and opposing religious hierarchy. Knight talks of raising a finger to both sides in any clash of civilisations. Views that the panel did not reflect, just as they seemed surprised by the self-evident questions from the audience that punk and Islam, or Anarchism and Islam, do not sit together. At all.

My own question was to query the rather chummy tone that was emerging, by pointing out that in America you can buy an unedited, unexpurgated copy of the Taqwacores. Here in the UK you cannot - as the publishers lost their nerve, feeling the book could be seen as blasphemous by some UK Islamists.

For as long as I can remember, one word kills any debate dead amongst socialists.

To accuse someone of racism is to automatically trump any other issue they raise, or any belief they hold. Debate ends - after all, why would anyone debate with a racist? Sometimes another word is used - Gordon Brown used the term bigot yesterday in Rochdale, in recent years the buzz word has often been Islamophobia.

What the Gillian Duffy affair illustrates is something many socialists and anarchists should have understood years ago - that such an approach simply does not work with the wider working class. Calling someone a bigot or a racist and expecting them to shut up is a nonsense in the wider world outside of the far left. The left now faces a choice - to understand this, and to take it on board, or to carry on regardless. Glancing at the Respect supporting Socialist Unity blog this morning, the response seems to be - carry on regardless - Mrs Duffy's words were bigoted, its all the fault of the Murdoch press etc etc. The same old shite masquerading as argument.

So - do we change, or do we carry on policing one another for a 'racism' that virtually no working class person recognises?

April 28, 2010

Earlier this week I picked up a joint leaflet from the National Union of Teachers and Unite Against Fascism.

Entitled "Use Your Vote To Stop The BNP" it contains the following quote:

"The BNP hates that our children learn and play together. Britain is a multicultural society, don't let the BNP fascists tear it apart".

All fair sentiment - now where do I sign up for the UAF/NUT campaign against separate Muslim schools (or those of any other faith group) as they do far more to ensure our children do not 'learn and play together' than any BNP campaign.

April 27, 2010

Following the injury to Shay Given, the Premier League is apparently set to allow Manchester City to sign a goalkeeper on loan for the remainder of the season, even though the transfer deadline closed on 1 February. It seems City have no confidence in their reserve, Faroe Islands goalie Gunnar Nielsen. As every football fan knows the Faroes have a great goalkeeping tradition - indeed the oddest thing about Nielsen's 17 minutes cameo at the Emirates on Saturday was that he did not take the field wearing a bobble hat.

Given the amount of oil wealth sloshing around at Manchester City, surely they could have afforded to have more than two goalkeepers on their books? If not, they should be required to bring Joe Hart back from his loan spell, or to play the youth team keeper. In the past events like this were seen as opportunities to blood youngsters, not as excuses to rewrite the rules by which all the other teams in the league are bound.

Nor is this the first time the transfer deadline rules have been bent for the blue half of Manchester. In 2008 striker Benjani fell asleep at Southampton airport, missed his flight to Manchester, and so only signed for City from Portsmouth after the deadline had passed. The Premier League put the paper work through anyway.

April 26, 2010

Anarchist fortnightly Freedom is fresh on the streets with its election special.

The bulk of the paper is devoted to the current electoral campaign and the 'choices' it offers us. New Labour, the Tories and the Lib Dems electoral platforms are all considered and - perhaps not surprisingly - found wanting. I was invited to write the analysis of the BNP (for some reason they did not trust me to write the piece on Respect) and the article "BNP: Red, white and blue?" is the work of yours truly and Neal Lennon (not Neil Lennon, he has enough on his plate).

Frustratingly we had to write the piece without having read the BNP's electoral manifesto, which only came out on St George's Day - a full three days later than some had expected!* More seriously, the crux of our arguments centre on the fact that the BNP will broadly offer you the sky providing you are white, whilst lacking the means to deliver on very much at all. This populism, plus the hankering for a Britain (or should that be England?) that never really existed is at the centre of their approach.

Finally Freedom have put an Anti-manifesto in their centre pages, offering an analysis of where things really stand on issues from the economy to immigration. In a future election I would like to see Anarchists write, and perhaps even campaign on an Anarchist manifesto, that talks about how we would attempt to mould a new society, or at the very least stop this one from going so awry.

I feel Anarchists can do a little better than we are doing at the moment.........

* This is a very sophisticated joke that only historians, committed anti-fascists or Hitler worshippers will understand......

April 25, 2010

The Cock Tavern is the type of traditional Irish pub that exists all too rarely in London these days. The decline of an overt Irish community, plus gentrification of so many working class areas has seen to that. Pubs struggle to make money in this economic climate, whilst a large pub, sold off and divided up into flats, makes a comfortable profit for any property developer.

Sadly though the Cock Tavern's problem is not the above but the police - who have objected to the venue's licence. This is a scandal, and one that should be resisted. The first thing readers can do is to join the Facebook group defending the pub here. Next up should be ensure that you pop into the Cock for a pint or two to show your solidarity. Thirdly - sign the petition the landlady has started to show the depth of the support the pub enjoys - and do of course make your views clear to any of Camden Council's officials and election candidates you encounter.

April 24, 2010

A large multinational employs thousands of men who abuse children. Rather than dismissing them or handing them over to the authorities, the board of the multinational moves the abusers from place to place, where they repeat their crimes. Those they target are often the weakest and those least able to speak up for themselves. This is reinforced by the multinational itself, which encourages deference and condemns those who criticise it.

Would they get away with this? No they would not.

Arrest the Pope when he comes to England. And if compensating the victims of these scandals means bankrupting the Church of Rome - all well and good.

April 20, 2010

One good thing may emerge from Nick Clegg's performance in the first of the televised election debates.

Tory toff Zac Goldsmith was thought to be favourite in Richmond Park, where the boy Dave hoped his fellow old Etonian would rest the ultra-marginal from Lib Dem Susan Kramer. Not so, according to last nights Evening Standard, which suggests a Clegg inspired six point surge to the Lib Dems across London. That, plus any residual anger at the 2009 non-dom tax scandal involving Goldsmith should see the boy wonder into second place. Whilst there may be few positive reasons to vote Liberal Democrat, seeing off Goldsmith, plus giving two fingers to the ostrich like attitude of his chums at The Ecologist, is as good as any reason we are likely to get.

Alas, on closer reading I fear the Standard's reasoning is not quite as clear cut as it as first appears. Their poll is one based across London, not on the Richmond Park constituency, and actually shows a 1% London wide increase in the Tory vote. Local variables are thus not considered. To make sure, lets hope the Lib Dems have the balls to fight hard, and robustly, stressing Zac's green credentials are as fake as the muscles at a night of WWF wrestling. Any man who lectures corporations and individuals on how to treat the planet, whilst going to the lengths he did to avoid paying what we all have to, deserves our long term contempt. Taxes it seems, to Zac Goldsmith (and his fellow Tory Lord Ashcroft) are for little people. Lets all shout together - Hit the road Zac!

April 17, 2010

I am pleased to say I placed four bets, perhaps on rather fringe characters, well before all this excitement began. My bets (which do not demonstrate endorsement) were:

UKIP's Nigel Farage to beat the speaker John Bercow in Buckingham: £10 at 11/4Respect's Abjol Miah to win Bethnal Green: £5 at 11/4Respect's George Galloway to win the three way fight in Poplar and Limehouse: £5 at 13/2 Respect's Salma Yaqoob to take Birmingham Hall Green from Labour: £10 at 6/1

Of these I made a major mistake with Yaqoob, who was 14/1 on most websites shortly before I placed my bet. My dithering may have been a significant mistake. Of the others the odds on the rather unpleasant Abjol Miah are I think particularly generous, given Respect hold the seat, and he has long been Galloway's designated successor. Elsewhere I suspect the Tories chances in Poplar & Limehouse may be slightly overstated. Yes parts of the area have been gentrified but the Tories are starting from such a weak base. However the potential for white working class voters to turn to the Conservatives, and thus say a plague on both your houses following the exposure of Islamic Forum of Europe influence over Respect and (especially) Labour in the East End clearly exists. Galloway however, with his mastery of old style canvassing, and the likely block vote from local mosques, is a great bet at the price.

In Birmingham Salma Yaqoob has been boosted by a lacklustre local Labour campaign, and claims of the endorsement of an outgoing Labour MP from elsewhere in the City, Lynne Jones. That explains the sudden fall in her price, although it obviously remains to be seen whether that is merely the bookies being cautious. The bet I am most confident of is UKIP's Nigel Farrage against the oily John Bercow in Buckingham. The type of people Farrage appeals to always vote, and to me for Bercow to win he needs to hold a good section of the Tory vote, and to get Lib Dem and Labour voters out (neither party stands against the speaker). I am not sure they will, and UKIP's populist rhetoric will not do them any harm.

I shall report back on the progress of these bets on May 7th. Given the nature of the candidates it may be an overstatement to say I have my fingers crossed, but it will at least be interesting......

April 15, 2010

A question for all married men and women who read this blog. Did you invite your MP to either your wedding or your wedding reception?

I do not know a single person who has. Given Members of Parliament have a big enough free ride as it is, the idea of paying for their free food and drink on what is supposed to be the happiest day of your life sounds well - strange. It is not however a strange idea if you are Bodrul Islam or his now wife Mahbuba Kamali. Back in August 2009 they invited Poplar MP Jim Fitzpatrick to their wedding at the London Muslim Centre - even though they had never met him. Mr Fitzpatrick, although he had never met the happy couple, accepted.

History now records that Jim Fitzpatrick was asked to sit apart from his own wife at the wedding (as is the norm at many Muslim ceremonies) and walked out in protest. A local storm ensued, fanned skillfully by the Respect Party, and it remains an issue in the Poplar and Limehouse constituency at the general election., where George Galloway is standing against Fitzpatrick. Bodul Islam himself is now standing for Respect in the council elections on May 6th, in Tower Hamlets Bromley-by-Bow ward.

Fitzpatrick's behaviour at the wedding was curious - one wonders what he thought happens at weddings at the London Muslim Centre. Was he expecting a bar as well? What is most significant about the affair though is what it tells us about how politics (and business?) is conducted in much of Tower Hamlets. How odd it looks to any outsider looking in that a couple should invite a man they have never met to their wedding, and he should accept, even though he does not know the couple concerned.

If I was getting married this summer, and invited Hackney South and Shoreditch MP Meg Hillier to come, would she do so? She would not even consider it. Ask yourself if your MP would come along if you invited them to the next wedding in your family? The answer is almost certainly no. Why then the invitation to Fitzpatrick from his constituents? The whole thing is suggestive of a pair of constituents who recognise the power and importance of their MP, and an MP who feels that some of his constituents are so important he needs to be seen in their company.

Looked at in those terms, it is hard to feel too much sympathy for either party.

April 14, 2010

This blog takes its title from a line by Patrick McGoohan, Number 6 in The Prisoner.

It was the Prisoner's intention to escape the Village, but to come back in his pursuit for justice. Each year millions rewatch the 17 original episodes of the Prisoner, debating the meaning of each episode and particular its rather trippy ending. In any TV series I cannot recall a scene as peculiar as Number 6 entering court in the final programme, to the Beatles 'All You Need Is Love'.

In life the original of anything is usually better than the copy. Perhaps that principle means I am underwhelmed at ITV's 2010 remake of The Prisoner, which starts this Saturday at 9pm. For those who cannot wait until then, the British Film Institute, down at the Southbank, have a sneak preview tonight at 8.10pm. To m eyes the trailers suggest the new programme owes as much to Lost as the original series. This obsession with remaking old classics, in film, drama and comedy, rather than developing new ideas, is symptomatic of an era that is lacking in them. Still, I'm always willing to be proved wrong.

April 13, 2010

I am a doubter when it comes to the many of the 'illnesses' of the 21st century. It should after all be pretty obvious why people in the Congo do not suffer from ME, but teenage girls from Surrey claim to.

We have the Daily Telegraph to thank however for introducing us to the concept of VIP Passenger Syndrome. Here it is suggested that the plane crash that killed Poland's right wing President, Lech Kazynski, may have been caused by his own insistence that his plane must land, regardless of advice from the Russians and his own pilot to the contrary. It is even suggested Kazynski tried to sack a previous pilot who had declined to land in dangerous circumstances.

The classic example of VIP Syndrome must be Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed, encouraging chauffeur Henri Paul to escape from the papparazi by driving at ever greater speeds - a doubly distressing experience for Monsieur Paul as valuable drinking time was being wasted!

April 12, 2010

For some reason in my box of 7 inch singles I have the record sleeve, but not the actual record of "A Bit of U2". For those who have not heard it, its a very jaunty rap track based on New Years Day by U2. I have no idea where the green fields are that feature in the video, but the car park setting is classic Manchester - possibly to the east of Piccadilly station?

My chances of finding the record are now nil. Still, the sleeve motivated me to play the track on YouTube, and here it is for your enjoyment.

April 11, 2010

Andrew Lang's new film, Sons of Cuba, focuses on three boys from the Havana Boxing Academy. Cuba has dominated amateur boxing for more than a generation, and Lang's 90 minute documentary at the British Film Institute is followed by a Q & A session with the film maker.

Pedalling around working class Earlham yesterday, it was obvious that where people were going to vote, the signs were up for Clarke. Head into the more middle class and student 'Golden Triangle', and things take a greener turn, both physically and politically. Here perhaps is the problem the Greens face - they are yet to really win over a significant section of working class voters anywhere, preferring to mop up support from academics, students, ecological and peace activists, plus of course the many disillusioned leftists out there. Many people in Earlham will not regard Charles Clarke's views on student top up fees as the barrier to voting for him that the Greens and Lib Dems feel it is, or a local Students Union poll articulates. Why shouldn't mostly middle class students pay for the opportunities they are given in life?

In a way, progress for the Greens may come down to a question of political sophistication. Are they capable of articulating the views of people in the 'Golden Traingle' and Earlham at the same time? Are they interested in doing so? If it is easier for Adrian Ramsay to simple build up the support base he has, he may well find he is going to come second (at best) or possibly third and fourth.

April 08, 2010

Most of the obituaries will no doubt focus on the Sex Pistols, but the important thing to me about McLaren (apart from his hilarously pompous interviews) was that he really made you think with the images and ideas he presented.

Malcolm McLaren was a great chameleon and perhaps a bit of a magpie, but as the video shows below, he was someone who was actually most comfortable in the background, letting others take centre stage. We are poorer without him.

Alderman then finishes his article with the warning "Jewish communalism is a major trigger of anti-Jewish prejudice. It may look clever but its victories, purchased at a high price, are invariably short-lived."

Looking across from Hackney to Tower Hamlets, and the influence the Islamic Forum of Europe in that borough, I suspect precisely the same point can be made. Any 'victories' that come in that borough for the IFE will come at a high price for wider community relations.

Sporting events from Belarus are often attended by Belarus's rather Stalinist President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been known to sit ringside at Muay Thai events in Belarus. Look out for him at the side of the stage this week.....

April 04, 2010

Sadly that is not a question likely to be answered by the BBC Security Correspondent Gordon Corera, who has been allowed into Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) at Cheltenham.

You can hear his programme GCHQ Cracking The Code on Radio 4 at 5pm today. Here's one tip Gordon - they will only give away the information to you that they want to be made public. To find out more, you will need to do some ........ investigative journalism.

April 03, 2010

The answer to this question may be difficult to understand if you are part of the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church, but I am confident everyone else will get it. What's the difference between:

1. People criticising the Pope for allegedly not acting against child molesters in the Catholic Church?

2. Anti-semitism and violence against Jewish people?

Most readers of this blog probably see number one as justified, whilst number two is not. If however you are The Rev Raniero Cantalmessa, speaking at Good Friday prayers in Rome, number one and number two are actually as bad as each other. Cantalmessa is apparently a close adviser of Pope Benedict, who is being granted a state visit to Britain in September.

April 01, 2010

"Labour MP George Galloway … said … “these lunatics, anarchists and other extremists, principally from the Socialist Workers’ party, were out for a rumble the whole time, and now they’ve got it. If they didn’t exist, the Tories would need to invent them.”Sunday Times 1 April 1990
Oh well - I guess George has always been on the wrong side. If only those rioters had been attacking a Starbucks near the Israel embassy, they would have had his unconditional support, and a series of reports advocating their case from Islamic 'human rights' organisations!